Ever since an early age we have been bombarded with media messages and images that give us the idea that in order to be successful and happy you must be thin and beautiful. These messages and images are mostly targeted towards women. The media emphasize thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the bodies idealized in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women. Today, you cannot read a magazine or newspaper, turn on the television, listen to the radio, or shop at the mall without being assaulted with the message that fat is bad. Some researchers believe that the media intentionally normalize unrealistically thin bodies in order to create an unattainable goal, which causes consumers to buy constantly. The fact that the diet industry alone generates $33 billion in revenue suggests that these researchers may be right. Consistent exposure to female-oriented commercials and ads may influence young women to become self conscious about their bodies and to obsess over their physical appearance as a measure of their worth. The trend toward being slim, skinny and even anorexic in order to fit the American standard of beauty is as scary to me as it is unhealthy. For, today

• A study of 4,294 network television commercials revealed that 1 out of every 3.8 commercials send some sort of "attractiveness message" telling viewers what is or is not attractive. These researchers estimate that the average adolescent sees over 5,260 "attractiveness messages" per year.

The sad thing about these images and messages is that it is reaching girls and young women everywhere. The media uses television programs (Dawson’s Creek and Friends) and magazines (Seventeen and YM) to target girls around 10-17 years of age. These ages are when girls are the most susceptible to getting an eating disorder. Eating disorders include, binging and purging, using laxatives excessively or diet pills, starving, fasting, and extreme exercising. In 1970, the average age a girl started dieting was 14; by 1990 the age dropped to 8 and 81% of ten-year-old girls are afraid of being fat. In a world filled with ideas that fat is bad, girls will go to extreme lengths to be thin, resulting in an eating disorder.

• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner

's fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female, and a young woman between the ages of 18-34 has a 7% chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a 1% chance of being as thin as a supermodel. However, 69% of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and the acceptance of this unrealistic body type creates an impractical standard for the majority of women.

Christ Henrich (died from her eating disorder)

• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat

Some topics in this essay:
Eating Disorders, Shop Timberland, Seventeen YM, Medical School, America Pageant, Paula Abdul, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Janet Jackson's, Kristen Harrison, Tiger Woods, eating disorders, eating disorder, images messages, women media, media messages, specific product service, product service, bulimic schoolgirls, tall weighs, body image, choose filter,